Top 3 IPL innings of Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir is known for his terrific captaincy in the IPL. For someone who played the league from the inaugural season in 2008 to the year 2018, Gambhir has a terrific legacy as a captain. But Gambhir the batter is probably a bit underrated. Especially for Delhi Capitals, Gambhir was very good in his peak. After his peak, Gambhir the batter did not get enough limelight, as Gambhir the captain was fantastic in his job.

Despite the lack of quality batters in Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir was one of the mainstays in the early and mid 2010s for the Kolkata based franchise. Till 2014, Gambhir had the joint most titles as a captain. But Gambhir was also one of the leading run scorers in the tournament for a long time. In fact, Gambhir was one of the first batters to score more than 4000 runs in the league. Here are the Top 3 knocks of Gambhir in the IPL.

 1. 93 vs RCB, Kolkata 2012

 It was the group stage match between KKR and RCB in the 2012 season of the IPL. The match happened in Kolkata, which was one of the slowest batting surfaces for a long time. On a slow surface in Kolkata, KKR won the toss and elected to bat first. Gambhir played one of the best innings of his career and scored 93 runs in 52 balls. With batters struggling at the other end, Gambhir played a fine knock.

Against an attack consisting of Zaheer Khan, Daniel Vettori, KP Appanna, R Vijay Kumar, Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Harshal Patel, Gambhir registered his career best IPL score. In his stay in the middle, Gambhir hit 9 fours and 5 sixes. Gambhir’s knock helped KKR to score 190 runs. Chasing the target, RCB never looked to be in the game. KKR ended up winning the game comfortably by 47 runs.

 2. 90* vs SRH, Hyderabad 2016

It was the early stage of the IPL 2016. The match between KKR and SRH happened in Hyderabad. On a slow wicket in Rajiv Gandhi international stadium, SRH scored only 142 runs. Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, and Andre Russell bowled very well and restricted SRH to a low total. Chasing 143, KKR took a slow approach. SRH bowlers bowled well and asked questions to the batters of KKR regularly.

Robin Uthappa batted slow from his end. Gambhir did well to anchor the chase with perfection. The captain of KKR single handedly kept his time alive in the chase. The Southpaw scored an unbeaten 90 runs in 60 balls, which included 13 fours and a six. The cautious approach from Gambhir soon turned into an aggressive one with the required rate climbing up. Gambhir scored his second highest score in the IPL and helped KKR to win by 8 wickets.

 3. 75* vs RR, Jaipur 2011

It was the 12th match of the season between RR and KKR. It was the first season of Gambhir as the leader of KKR. On a slow wicket in Jaipur, KKR won the toss and elected to bowl first. KKR bowled well and restricted the home side to a total of 159 runs. The spin bowling duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan claimed 2 wickets each. KKR took a slow approach in their chase.

After losing Manvinder Bisla for just a run, Jacques Kallis joined Gautam Gambhir and was involved in a record 152-run stand for the third wicket. The left-right combination worked well for KKR. The duo played slowly and took the game away from the home side. Gambhir played an aggressive knock from his end and scored an unbeaten 75*(44), which included 11 fours and a six. The knock of Gambhir helped KKR to chase the target by 9 wickets.